Revealed: 60 Chords Every Jazz Musician Must Be Familiar With

You’ve arrived at this page because you’ll want to learn 60 chords every jazz musician must be familiar with.

Although jazz music harmony is complex, learning and mastering these 60 chords can keep your head above the waters because they are regularly used in most chord progressions and songs.

Let’s get started!

60 Chords Every Jazz Musician Must Be Familiar With

There are five seventh chord types that every serious jazz musician must learn in all twelve keys on the keyboard:

Major seventh chords

Minor seventh chords

Dominant seventh chords

Half-diminished seventh chords

Diminished seventh chords

If you do the math:

5 x 12 = 60

So, let’s go ahead and outline and provide these chords.

12 Major Seventh Chords

Adding the seventh tone of the major scale to the major triad produces the major seventh chord. For example, adding the seventh tone in the key of C major:

…which is B:

…to the C major triad:

…produces the C major seventh chord:

Major seventh chords are found on the first and fourth tones in the major key and on the third and sixth tones in the minor key.

“Check Out All The Major Seventh Chords…”

C major seventh chord:

Db major seventh chord:

D major seventh chord:

Eb major seventh chord:

E major seventh chord:

F major seventh chord:

Gb major seventh chord:

G major seventh chord:

Ab major seventh chord:

A major seventh chord:

Bb major seventh chord:

B major seventh chord:

12 Minor Seventh Chords

Adding the seventh tone of the minor scale to the minor triad produces the minor seventh chord. For example, adding the seventh tone in the key of C minor :

…which is Bb:

…to the C minor triad:

…produces the C minor seventh chord:

Minor seventh chords are found on the second, third, and sixth tones in the major key and on the first and fourth tones in the minor key.

C minor seventh chord:

C# minor seventh chord:

D minor seventh chord:

Eb minor seventh chord:

E minor seventh chord:

F minor seventh chord:

F# minor seventh chord:

G minor seventh chord:

G# minor seventh chord:

A minor seventh chord:

Bb minor seventh chord:

B minor seventh chord:

12 Dominant Seventh Chords

Lowering the seventh tone of any given major seventh chord by a half step produces the dominant seventh chord. For example, lowering the seventh tone in the C major seventh chord:

…which is B:

…by a half-step (to Bb):

…produces the C dominant seventh chord:

Although dominant seventh chords can be applied on the fifth tone in any key (whether major or minor) they also function as passing chords to any scale-degree chord.

C dominant seventh chord:

Db dominant seventh chord:

D dominant seventh chord:

Eb dominant seventh chord:

E dominant seventh chord:

F dominant seventh chord:

Gb dominant seventh chord:

G dominant seventh chord:

Ab dominant seventh chord:

A dominant seventh chord:

Bb dominant seventh chord:

B dominant seventh chord:

12 Half-diminished Seventh Chords

Lowering the fifth tone of any given minor seventh chord by a half step produces the half-diminished seventh chord. For example, lowering the fifth tone in the C minor seventh chord:

…which is G:

…by a half-step (to Gb):

…produces the C half-diminished seventh chord:

The half- diminished seventh chord is the chord of the seventh tone in the major key and the second tone in the minor key.

“Check It Out…”

C half-diminished seventh chord:

C# half-diminished seventh chord:

D half-diminished seventh chord:

Eb half-diminished seventh chord:

E half-diminished seventh chord:

F half-diminished seventh chord:

F# half-diminished seventh chord:

G half-diminished seventh chord:

G# half-diminished seventh chord:

A half-diminished seventh chord:

Bb half-diminished seventh chord:

B half-diminished seventh chord:

12 Diminished Seventh Chords

The diminished seventh chord is formed using a diminished triad. Adding another note that’s a minor third above  any given diminished triad produces the diminished seventh chord.

Using the F# diminished triad:

…the F# diminished seventh chord can be formed by adding another note that’s a minor third above the F# diminished triad:

A minor third above the F# diminished triad:

….is Eb:

Therefore adding Eb:

…to the F# diminished triad:

…produces the F# diminished seventh chord:

The diminished seventh chord is the chord of the seventh tone in the minor key. However, it can be used to substitute the half-diminished seventh chord.

C diminished seventh chord:

C# diminished seventh chord:

D diminished seventh chord:

Eb diminished seventh chord:

E diminished seventh chord:

F diminished seventh chord:

F# diminished seventh chord:

G diminished seventh chord:

G# diminished seventh chord:

A diminished seventh chord:

Bb diminished seventh chord:

B diminished seventh chord:

Final Words

Now that you’ve seen these 60 chords, the best way of getting familiar with them is through continuous study and practice.

See you in another lesson!

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• Bio
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Chuku Onyemachi

Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group

Onyemachi "Onye" Chuku is a Nigerian musicologist, pianist, and author. Inspired by his role model (Jermaine Griggs) who has become his mentor, what he started off as teaching musicians in his Aba-Nigeria neighborhood in April 2005 eventually morphed into an international career that has helped hundreds of thousands of musicians all around the world. Onye lives in Dubai and is currently the Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group and the music consultant of the Gospel Music Training Center, all in California, USA.

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